Wednesday, August 26, 2009

On to my latest shanty… I made a trip to Hobby Lobby last week while Ashley kept all 5 of our kids. It was so nice to walk through the store without listening to screaming… or having to scream myself. I was able to find lots of goodies but this one had to be the day’s favorite. It was a large square piece of art for the wall. The picture can sum up how it landed itself on the clearance aisle. It was originally $59 and was on clearance for $6. I liked the idea of it and the design that was etched in the wood but the colors were terrible! I knew it would be blah hanging by itself so I found a $.99 wood oval and a $2 hook to dress it up. Here’s what I did…

I spray painted the art and the little oval with Valspar Vanilla satin paint. After letting that dry I moved on to step 2… For those of you that follow us you are probably well aware of what that step was. I glazed both pieces with Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze. A few tips on glazing from my experience…

~You must let your base coat dry really well. If you are using acrylic paint or spray paint that is usually only an hour or two. If you are using latex paint you should wait at least 12-24 hours.

~Your base coat needs to be at least an eggshell but I would recommend semi gloss or satin for a smoother finish.

~Once you have painted and wiped the glaze off, you can’t go back over it. It has a glue base and will pull all of your previous glaze off and you will then be angry…trust me.

My final step was assembly… I attached the cute little knob to the wood oval and added a picture hook to the back. I then used a scrap of fabric from an old shirt to make a tie… stapled the ends to the back of the square and hung it on the wall. I am so pleased with the outcome. This little shanty cleaned up well.

That turned out beautifully! How smart of you to come up with a plan like that right there in Hobby Lobby. I stand there in the aisle with a blank stare and come up with nothing until I get home...and then I have to make a second trip, lol!

looks great! like the mounted hook, and handmade tie idea. with glazing, yes, working glaze back into layed glaze will reactivate it - sometimes thats a good thing :) you can always go back in, once the glaze is dry, and do a little tweeking...